Jon Stewart Takes on Haters of 'Muslim' Bergdahls

Bowe Bergdahl has been taking a lot of heat on cable news, with pundits—particularly on Fox—calling him un-American or worse. "In just a few days this guy ... went from 'guy who left base without permission' to 'Muslim terrorist Kennedy assassin,'" Jon Stewart observed on the Daily Show last night. Some of the main evidence, apparently, being that his father has a beard that makes him, in the words of Bill O'Reilly, "look like a Muslim." Stewart isn't so sure. "I get more of an Amish vibe off of that, or Russian Orthodox ... or a Red Sox." he said. Other pundits have latched onto the elder Bergdahl saying "Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim" at the White House. But Stewart reveals that the phrase is not "some kind of Muslim Harry Potter curse," but a common blessing oft-delivered by visiting dignitaries—and Queen.

Later on the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert shined a satiric light on Bergdahl's ordeal, like his captivity in a "customized' cage. "This guy had his own customized cage?!" Colbert scoffed. "I couldn't possibly be confined in an off-the-shelf cage, I'm too fancy for that. I want one with brushed steel bars and a monogrammed poop bucket." Besides, Colbert said, the guy's clearly un-American—he "pursued a lifestyle that 99% of Americans cannot relate to: volunteering to fight in Afghanistan." (More Bob Bergdahl stories.)